By Burcu Karakas and Ebru Tuncay
ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said in an interview on Monday that local elections in March will deliver a message to President Tayyip Erdogan’s government about the Turkish people’s desire for “democracy, justice and the rule of law”.
Imamoglu, 52, acknowledged his re-election bid will be more difficult than his initial victory five years ago because opposition parties are no longer in alliance against candidates from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP).
But Imamoglu – who governs Turkey’s biggest city and is the opposition’s highest-profile leader nationwide – told Reuters he is confident of defeating a newly-named AKP challenger Murat Kurum, a former government minister.
“We want to see and experience a process where this city can send its messages to Turkey in terms of democracy, justice and rule of law,” said Imamoglu, of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
“If this happens of course there will be several messages sent to the government. Let them worry about that,” he said.
Erdogan’s critics say that Turkey’s judiciary, civil rights and press freedoms have eroded under his watch, charges the government denies.
Last May, Erdogan won re-election as Turkey’s president while his AKP and its allies took a majority in parliamentary elections, illustrating the challenge faced by a dispirited opposition in the nationwide municipal elections on March 31.
As part of the fallout, the CHP and other opposition parties, including nationalists IYI and pro-Kurdish DEM, have not agreed to field shared candidates in big cities, many of which they won together in 2019.
Imamoglu said he can win voters from other opposition parties and from the AKP.
“The fact is that it will be tougher than the last election,” Imamoglu said at his offices overlooking the Bosphorus Strait intersecting Istanbul. “Back then, the alliances were in a clearer position.”
Imamoglu’s election in 2019 ended 25 years of rule in Istanbul by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors, and represented a sharp defeat for Erdogan given he too once served as the city’s mayor.
The AKP contested the vote and demanded a re-run, but Imamoglu won that by an even larger margin. He called the 2019 vote – in which the AKP also lost the capital Ankara and other cities – a “turning point” for Turkish politics.
Despite what he describes as pressure and obstacles from the central government, Imamoglu said his administration has delivered services and development in Istanbul.
“The public banks did not provide us with any financial opportunities. Despite all this, I would like to say that we had a period of great success,” he said.
Erdogan said AKP mayoral candidate Kurum was appointed on Sunday to “bring Istanbul out of the interregnum” of the last five years. Imamoglu said Kurum’s candidature has no impact on his chances as both politicians start their campaigns.
In the interview, the mayor also said he was “not concerned at all” about a 2.5-year prison sentence and political ban handed down by a court for insulting public officials after his 2019 election win.
The court of appeals has not approved the sentence, which the opposition said is evidence of Erdogan’s willingness to intervene in judicial matters.
Source: Reuters/Additional reporting by Birsen Altayli; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Ros Russell
